Sandbach II 141-3, Kerridge 138-9 (Match drawn) - A STUNNING rearguard action enabled courageous nine-man Kerridge to make a game of it at Sandbach on Saturday.

With the scoreboard reading 36-7, it looked as though an early night in front of the TV was on the cards for Kerridge. That was until a captain’s innings of 31 by Gary Adamson and a stunning 32 not out by Shane Ainsworth at number 11, ably supported by Mark Huddart and AJ Cooke, lifted the visitors to 138-9, seeing out all 48 overs.

Kerridge did well in the field to stifle the home team, but the loss of two fielders made the end result inevitable.

When Neil Roddis had to leave the field with a broken and dislocated finger, with no substitute fielder offered by Sandbach, the gaps started to open up, and the loss of another fielder a couple of overs later made it very difficult to defend the total on a Sandbach ground with very long boundaries.

A big plus for Kerridge was the first-team debut of Danny Brown.

He looked very accomplished with the bat and bowled some excellent and much-needed spin.

In the first XI cup, division two leaders Rylands failed to field a team, conceding the match to Kerridge.

This moved Kerridge into the quarter-finals without taking to the field in the cup this season.